In this paper, a novel three-dimensional (3D) space-time-frequency (STF) non-stationary geometry-based stochastic model (GBSM) is proposed for the sixth generation (6G) terahertz (THz) wireless ...communication systems. The proposed THz channel model is very general having the capability to capture different channel characteristics in multiple THz application scenarios such as indoor scenarios, device-to-device (D2D) communications, ultra-massive multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, and long traveling paths of users. Also, the generality of the proposed channel model is demonstrated by the fact that it can easily be reduced to different simplified channel models to fit specific scenarios by properly adjusting model parameters. The proposed general channel model takes into consideration the non-stationarities in space, time, and frequency domains caused by ultra-massive MIMO, long traveling paths, and large bandwidths of THz communications, respectively. Statistical properties of the proposed general THz channel model are investigated. The accuracy and generality of the proposed channel model are verified by comparing the simulation results of the relative angle spread and root mean square (RMS) delay spread with corresponding channel measurements.
Optical wireless communication (OWC) is an excellent complementary solution to its radio frequency (RF) counterpart. OWC technologies have been demonstrated to be able to support high traffic ...generated by massive connectivity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and upcoming 5 th generation (5G) wireless communication systems. As the characteristics of OWC and RF are complementary, a combined application is regarded as a promising approach to support 5G and beyond communication systems. Hybrid RF/optical and optical/optical wireless systems offer an excellent solution for recovering the limitations of individual systems as well as for providing positive features of each of the technologies. An RF/optical wireless hybrid system consists both RF and optical-based wireless technologies, whereas an optical/optical wireless hybrid system consists two or more types of OWC technologies. The co-deployment of wireless systems can improve system performance in terms of throughput, reliability, and energy efficiency of individual networks. This study surveys the state of the art and key research directions regarding optical wireless hybrid networks, being the first extensive survey dedicated to this topic. We provide a technology overview of existing literature on optical wireless hybrid networks, such as RF/optical and optical/optical systems. We consider the RF-based macrocell, small cell, wireless fidelity, and Bluetooth, as well as optical-based visible light communication, light fidelity, optical camera communication, and free-space optical communication technologies for different combinations of hybrid systems. Moreover, we consider underwater acoustic communication for hybrid acoustic/optical systems. The opportunities brought by hybrid systems are presented in detail. We outline important challenges that need to be addressed for successful deployment of optical wireless hybrid network systems for 5G and IoT paradigms.
This paper considers the design of optimal resource allocation policies in wireless communication systems, which are generically modeled as a functional optimization problem with stochastic ...constraints. These optimization problems have the structure of a learning problem in which the statistical loss appears as a constraint, motivating the development of learning methodologies to attempt their solution. To handle stochastic constraints, training is undertaken in the dual domain. It is shown that this can be done with small loss of optimality when using near-universal learning parameterizations. In particular, since deep neural networks (DNNs) are near universal, their use is advocated and explored. DNNs are trained here with a model-free primal-dual method that simultaneously learns a DNN parameterization of the resource allocation policy and optimizes the primal and dual variables. Numerical simulations demonstrate the strong performance of the proposed approach on a number of common wireless resource allocation problems.
Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) that enables the control of wireless propagation environment has recently emerged as a promising cost-effective technology for boosting the spectral and energy ...efficiency of future wireless communication systems. Prior works on IRS are mainly based on the ideal phase shift model assuming full signal reflection by each of its elements regardless of the phase shift, which, however, is practically difficult to realize. In contrast, we propose in this paper a practical phase shift model that captures the phase-dependent amplitude variation in the element-wise reflection design. Based on the proposed model and considering an IRS-aided multiuser system with one IRS deployed to assist in the downlink communications from a multi-antenna access point (AP) to multiple single-antenna users, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize the total transmit power at the AP by jointly designing the AP transmit beamforming and the IRS reflect beamforming, subject to the users' individual signal-to-interference-plus-noise ratio (SINR) constraints. Iterative algorithms are proposed to find suboptimal solutions to this problem efficiently by utilizing the alternating optimization (AO) as well as penalty-based optimization techniques. Moreover, to draw essential insight, we analyze the asymptotic performance loss of the IRS-aided system that employs practical phase shifters but assumes the ideal phase shift model for beamforming optimization, as the number of IRS elements goes to infinity. Simulation results unveil substantial performance gains achieved by the proposed beamforming optimization based on the practical phase shift model as compared to the conventional ideal model.
Intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) is a promising new technology for achieving both spectrum and energy efficient wireless communication systems in the future. However, existing works on IRS mainly ...consider frequency-flat channels and assume perfect knowledge of channel state information (CSI) at the transmitter. Motivated by the above, in this paper we study an IRS-enhanced orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system under frequency-selective channels and propose a practical transmission protocol with channel estimation. First, to reduce the overhead in channel training as well as exploit the channel spatial correlation, we propose a novel IRS elements grouping method, where each group consists of a set of adjacent IRS elements that share a common reflection coefficient. Based on this method, we propose a practical transmission protocol where only the combined channel of each group needs to be estimated, thus substantially reducing the training overhead. Next, with any given grouping and estimated CSI, we formulate the problem to maximize the achievable rate by jointly optimizing the transmit power allocation and the IRS passive array reflection coefficients. Although the formulated problem is non-convex and thus difficult to solve, we propose an efficient algorithm to obtain a high-quality suboptimal solution for it, by alternately optimizing the power allocation and the passive array coefficients in an iterative manner, along with a customized method for the initialization. Simulation results show that the proposed design significantly improves the OFDM link rate performance as compared to the case without using IRS. Moreover, it is shown that there exists an optimal size for IRS elements grouping which achieves the maximum achievable rate due to the practical trade-off between the training overhead and IRS passive beamforming flexibility.
For unforeseen natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes, and floods, etc., the traditional communication infrastructure is unavailable or seriously disrupted along with persistent secondary ...disasters. Under such circumstances, it is highly demanded to deploy emergency wireless communication (EWC) networks to restore connectivity in accident/ incident areas. The emerging fifth-generation (5G)/beyond-5G (B5G) wireless communication system, like unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) assisted networks and intelligent reflecting surface (IRS) based communication systems, are expected to be designed or re-farmed for supporting temporary high quality communications in post-disaster areas. However, the channel characteristics of post-disaster areas quickly change as the secondary disaster resulted topographical changes, imposing new but critical challenges for EWC networks. In this paper, we propose a novel heterogeneous <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathcal {F} </tex-math></inline-formula> composite fading channel model for EWC networks which accurately models and characterizes the composite fading channel with reflectors, path-loss exponent, fading, and shadowing parameters in 5G-UAV based EWC networks. Based on the model, we develop the optimal power allocation scheme with the simple closed-form expression and the numerical results based optimal joint bandwidth-power allocation scheme. We derive the corresponding capacities and compare the energy efficiency between IRS and traditional relay based 5G-UAVs. Numerical results show that the new heterogeneous Fisher-Snedecor <inline-formula> <tex-math notation="LaTeX">\mathcal {F} </tex-math></inline-formula> composite fading channel adapted resource allocation schemes can achieve higher capacity and energy efficiency than those of traditional channel model adapted resource allocation schemes, thus providing better communications service for post-disaster areas.
This paper provides an overview of the features of fifth generation (5G) wireless communication systems now being developed for use in the millimeter wave (mmWave) frequency bands. Early results and ...key concepts of 5G networks are presented, and the channel modeling efforts of many international groups for both licensed and unlicensed applications are described here. Propagation parameters and channel models for understanding mmWave propagation, such as line-of-sight (LOS) probabilities, large-scale path loss, and building penetration loss, as modeled by various standardization bodies, are compared over the 0.5-100 GHz range.
Large intelligent surface (LIS)-assisted wireless communications have drawn attention worldwide. With the use of low-cost LIS on building walls, signals can be reflected by the LIS and sent out along ...desired directions by controlling its phases, thereby providing supplementary links for wireless communication systems. In this paper, we evaluate the performance of an LIS-assisted large-scale antenna system by formulating a tight upper bound of the ergodic spectral efficiency and investigate the effect of the phase shifts on the ergodic spectral efficiency in different propagation scenarios. In particular, we propose an optimal phase shift design based on the upper bound of the ergodic spectral efficiency and statistical channel state information. Furthermore, we derive the requirement on the quantization bits of the LIS to promise an acceptable spectral efficiency degradation. Numerical results show that using the proposed phase shift design can achieve the maximum ergodic spectral efficiency, and a 2-bit quantizer is sufficient to ensure spectral efficiency degradation of no more than 1 bit/s/Hz.
Wireless communication in the TeraHertz band (0.1-10 THz) is envisioned as one of the key enabling technologies for the future sixth generation (6G) wireless communication systems scaled up beyond ...massive multiple input multiple output (Massive-MIMO) technology. However, very high propagation attenuations and molecular absorptions of THz frequencies often limit the signal transmission distance and coverage range. Benefited from the recent breakthrough on the reconfigurable intelligent surfaces (RIS) for realizing smart radio propagation environment, we propose a novel hybrid beamforming scheme for the multi-hop RIS-assisted communication networks to improve the coverage range at THz-band frequencies. Particularly, multiple passive and controllable RISs are deployed to assist the transmissions between the base station (BS) and multiple single-antenna users. We investigate the joint design of digital beamforming matrix at the BS and analog beamforming matrices at the RISs, by leveraging the recent advances in deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to combat the propagation loss. To improve the convergence of the proposed DRL-based algorithm, two algorithms are then designed to initialize the digital beamforming and the analog beamforming matrices utilizing the alternating optimization technique. Simulation results show that our proposed scheme is able to improve 50% more coverage range of THz communications compared with the benchmarks. Furthermore, it is also shown that our proposed DRL-based method is a state-of-the-art method to solve the NP-hard beamforming problem, especially when the signals at RIS-assisted THz communication networks experience multiple hops.
Recently, the reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), benefited from the breakthrough on the fabrication of programmable meta-material, has been speculated as one of the key enabling technologies ...for the future six generation (6G) wireless communication systems scaled up beyond massive multiple input multiple output (Massive-MIMO) technology to achieve smart radio environments. Employed as reflecting arrays, RIS is able to assist MIMO transmissions without the need of radio frequency chains resulting in considerable reduction in power consumption. In this paper, we investigate the joint design of transmit beamforming matrix at the base station and the phase shift matrix at the RIS, by leveraging recent advances in deep reinforcement learning (DRL). We first develop a DRL based algorithm, in which the joint design is obtained through trial-and-error interactions with the environment by observing predefined rewards, in the context of continuous state and action. Unlike the most reported works utilizing the alternating optimization techniques to alternatively obtain the transmit beamforming and phase shifts, the proposed DRL based algorithm obtains the joint design simultaneously as the output of the DRL neural network. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithm is not only able to learn from the environment and gradually improve its behavior, but also obtains the comparable performance compared with two state-of-the-art benchmarks. It is also observed that, appropriate neural network parameter settings will improve significantly the performance and convergence rate of the proposed algorithm.
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